Production Of Biodiesel And Improvement Of Its Properties Using Bio-Additive

The quest for a green,non-toxic,cheap and sustainable additive material that will simultaneously tackle the problem of auto-oxidation,poor low temperature properties and microbial degradation of biodiesel is the major motive behind this study.Thus,the study focused on providing a holistic solution to biodiesel instability challenges using a fuel additive.Firstly,to produce the biodiesel sample used in the study,a novel heterogeneous alkaline catalyst was synthesis by loading CaO on high silica zeolite using impregnation method.The resulting catalyst?35%CaO/zeolite?in synergy with microwave reactor was used to produce the waste lard biodiesel?WLB?and yield of 90.89%was achieved using the optimum conditions?microwave power:595 Watts,catalyst amount:8%wt/vol.,methanol to oil ratio:30:1 and reaction time:1.25 hrs?established using response surface methodology?RSM?.Also,compositional analysis conducted on the WLB sample reveals that it contains 38.29%saturated and 61.71%unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters,which makes it a suitable sample for the study.Secondly,three different samples of the multi-functional fuel additive?MFA1,MFA 2 and MFA 3?were synthesized from binary formulation of ethyl levulinate?EL?and cinnamon derivative?CD?using 95:5,90:10 and 85:15 volume ratio respectively.The synthesized additives were characterized and findings reveal that 29.67±8.08,44.67±2.31 and 53.33±8.08%2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl?DPPH?radical inhibition were established with the MFA 1,MFA 2and MFA 3 respectively,which shows an obvious antioxidation property.Also,findings obtained from the analysis of the additives using differential scanning calorimeter?DSC?reveal a reduction in crystallization temperature of WLB by3.96,8.79 and 14.25⁰C with the MFA 1,MFA 2 and MFA 3 respectively,which signifies a robust anti-freezing property.Additionally,the additives exhibited antibacterial and antifungal properties against some bacterial and fungal strains that were reported to have negative effects on biodiesel?Bacillus pumilus and Paecilomyces variotii respectively?.Zones of inhibition of 22.33±0.58,22.67±0.58and 29.00±5.29 mm were recorded against the Bacillus pumilus and 35.00±5.03,45.00±5.03 and 58.00±14.143 mm against Paecilomyces variotii with the MFA 1,MFA 2 and MFA 3respectively using agar well method.More so,the additives were found to have moderate acidity and kinematic viscosity.Thirdly,the WLB produced was doped with MFA 2 using 5,10,15 and 20%vol/vol dosages.Strikingly,findings obtained reveal that the MFA 2 is totally miscible in WLB.Also,the MFA 2 increases the oxidation onset temperature(T_onset),oxidation maximum temperature(T_max)and oxidation offset temperature(T_offset)of WLB by 82,77 and 7⁰C respectively with the 5%vol/vol.dosage,which shows that the MFA 2 has impacted strong antioxidative effects that compares favorably to that of conventional biodiesel antioxidant?butylated hydroxytoluene?BHT??.Reduction in melting point temperature?Tmp?,high melting temperature?Thm?and completion melting temperature?Tcm?by 11.61,8.79 and 8.44⁰C using the maximum dosage reveals that the MFA 2 has also impacted significant anti-freezing effects on WLB that is superior to that of EL.Furthermore,significant reduction in the optical density(OD₆₀₀)of the Bacillus pumilus and Paecilomyces variotii incubated with the WLB doped with the maximum dosage of the MFA 2from 2.92±0.0032 to 0.26±0.0006 and 2.72±0.0588 to 2.02±0.0100 respectively shows that the additive has impacted antimicrobial effects.Lastly,the WLB doped with the maximum dosage of MFA 2 was thoroughly examined to investigate the effects of the additive on other fundamental biodiesel properties?flash point,acid number,kinematic viscosity,density,water and sediments contents,corrosiveness?and results obtained reveals that addition of the MFA 2 to biodiesels could hardly take the values of these properties out of standard specifications.Interestingly,techno-economic analysis conducted has shown that the additive synthesis process is feasible and economically profitable.